You have to admit this amazing cover art catches your eye and makes you wonder what might be inside. And the inside is just as beautiful. Queenie Jenkins is on the cusp of something good. She has a steady boyfriend, Tom, who has suggested marriage, and she's landed a job at a magazine. So what if Tom's family is racist and he doesn't seem to care. So what if the job is managing listings and not writing about issues that really matter to Queenie. She's ALMOST there.And then. She isn't. Tom wants a break. A clean break. And this begins a spiral for Queenie who must confront some of the things that have made her adult life difficult. Painful, heartbreaking episodes from her childhood are hinted, and then drawn out fully as we grieve and learn with Queenie.At times completely hilarious and then equally heartbreaking, this book really does do it all. Queenie's friends are dismayed and helpless to halt her downward spiral and I felt these same feelings along with them. I felt like Queenie's friend. I was rooting for her. I wanted her to figure out these things she was doing to herself and allowing to happen to herself. The book brings up uncomfortable questions of self acceptance and worth and race. And it does it all in the most excellent writing. I was so thrilled to find this book in my mail box courtesy of Scout Press Books. I can't wait to share this book with everyone.
5/5 Stars.
I really needed this book this week. It was funny, and light and interesting. Where'd You Go, Bernadette is a collection of letters and e-mails pieced together to tell the story of Bernadette Fox, a wife and mother in Seattle Washington who has disappeared. But before Bernadette Fox was those things in Seattle, she was a famous architect, recipient of a McArthur Genius Award, and a free wheeling spirit whose creative side was channeled toward a vision only she could imagine. But, 15 years later, she's living in Seattle, wife to Elgin Branch, a VP at MicroSoft working on artificial intelligence technology, and mother to Bee, a super-smart 8th grader who decides as her gift for straight A's - she's going to ask her parents for a trip to Antarctica. Bernadette, who has become increasingly reclusive over the years, responds to the request by outsourcing a position as a personal assistance to an e-mail address in India.Meanwhile, down the slope from their home (actually an old school for girls), lives Audrey Griffin, a Seattle socialite who has never met a problem that wasn't caused by someone else. Audrey's best friend, Sue Lynn works at MicroSoft and reports back to Audrey all the things that Elgin is up to while his wife spends her day ruining Audrey's life. As smart as they are, Elgin and Bernadette don't communicate very well, so much so that when Sue Lynn informs Elgin about some of his wife's more odd behavior, he becomes concerned enough to stage and intervention - an intervention that goes horribly wrong and ends up with Bernadette running away, and an angry Bee left to pick up the pieces and try to discover what happened to her mother. I know reading the above synopsis may not actually seem like this book is as funny as it was, but it was actually very funny and delightful. It's a shame I had to rush through it, but I've recently discovered that my library will let you borrow Audiobooks for FREE! (can you imagine) so I may have overcommitted to my borrowing shelf!
4/5 Stars.
You have to admit this amazing cover art catches your eye and makes you wonder what might be inside. And the inside is just as beautiful. Queenie Jenkins is on the cusp of something good. She has a steady boyfriend, Tom, who has suggested marriage, and she's landed a job at a magazine. So what if Tom's family is racist and he doesn't seem to care. So what if the job is managing listings and not writing about issues that really matter to Queenie. She's ALMOST there.
